Classification of an invertebrate:Sponge

Giles, Carol Collins High School
542-4300


Objectives: To become familiar with primitive animals. Materials: A. Sample sponges-two authentic sponges, one synthetic sponge, a large rock, a rubber band, a fish-like tank container (one gallon). B. A picture of a knight in armor. C. Dissecting microscope, dissecting needles, scalpel or single edge razor blade, sponge; Grantia. D.)Discovery Center-microprojector, spicules slides, a poster displaying the geological time periods, a plant, a horny sponge, loofah illustrating five types of sponges, a picture of a finger sponge & a jellyfish. Recommended Strategy: 1. Show the students a model of a knight in armor. 2. Ask the students, "What did the knight in armor use to insulate his armor?" (expected response: sponge) 3. Show the students a synthetic sponge and an authentic one. Ask students which of the sponges were used to insulate the knight's armor (expected response: the authentic sponge). Inform the students that the synthetic sponge wasn't manufactured until 1936. 4. State some historical background about the sponge. Include various naturalist, zoologist & biologist points of view. Discuss the uses of sponges. 5. Show the students an authentic sponge. Ask the students, "What do you see?" (expected response: holes, pores). Explain to the students that these pores caused the biologist to assign the animal to the phylum Porifera (pore bearing). 6. Show the students a container filled with water. Insert a sponge attached to a rock by a rubber band. Ask the students, "Can the sponge move?" (expected response: No. It's sessile). Then ask, "What does the rock represent?" (expected response: a substrate). 7. Ask the student how he/she thinks the sponge obtains its food. (expected response:water). 8. Activity 1: Pass out a handout depicting how the sponge feeds. Discuss the handout in detail. (Use an overhead projector to illustrate this activity.) 9. Activity 2: Laboratory exercise. The lab consists of students viewing the sponge, Grantia, under a dissecting microscope. In addition, the student will answer eleven questions. l0. Activity 3: After the students have completed the laboratory exercise, instruct them to view six exhibits & answer the questions in the Discovery Center. Evaluation: Have the students compare the observable characteristics of a sponge to the jellyfish. Students will write a short essay entitled Why Study The Sponge? References: Send a self- addressed stamped envelope to Carol Giles Box l392 Chgo, Il 60690
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